A little embroidery

All the flower faces are cut, washed and ready to be stitched. I've finished one block. Woo hoo!! This picture shows the difference between the one that's stitched and one that isn't. Oh I so wish the liquid embroidery had stood the test of time! I love to do hand work, but I am not looking forward to doing 11 more of the blocks! If you notice, I did not attempt to stitch on every drawn line. I figured the outline and a few inner lines (on the flower itself) would be enough. I was going to do the same thing in the stem and leaves, but those I can do with just a straight stitch so it won't take too long to do them. Working on these while sitting with Dad does give me a sense of being close to Mom since she did the original "coloring".

Oh boy, time to shower and get out of here. Have a great Wednesday!

Quiltlets

These quiltlets are the ones that were sent to me during the swap held during the online retreat. The first one is from Yvonne and the pink star is from Linda S. I've got to find just the right spot for both of them.
I haven't had much time to work on anything big. I've done a little stitching on the flower blocks, but I haven't even finished one. I've done some sewing on the bag I'm trying to construct for the swap.

I'm tired all of a sudden. Actually, I've been sleepy all day, but I had lots to do. Oh shoot! I have to take clothes out of the washer and dryer.

A tease...

Can anyone guess what this will be when I'm done? It's only a fraction of what it will be. This is the start of my design for a bag swap I've joined. At least, I hope I end up using this pattern/design. I haven't decided which pattern I'll use for the bag. I may end up having to come up with one of my own! lol

I think this will be the last swap I sign up for at least until I get all the baby quilts done. Yes, I said "quiltS" lol I have to make more than one new quilt for my new grandbaby-to-be. And, Dad has been pretty sick lately and my time is definitely not my own. He requires constant supervision, except when he's sleeping. I know Jim thinks I've all but abandoned him, but I can't see any other way around this situation right now. Even he has lent his strength to help Dad and I know Judy is exhausted from work and stress and even the boys are being tested. When a loved one is sick and, at times, very near death, how can we, as a family, not come together to do what is needed? We just take it a day at a time...and keep on praying. I have to thank strangers, who now are caregivers alongside family members and are cheerfully and selflessly giving of their time and experience. Thank you!!

A Surprise!

You see here a book sent to me from one of my old high school friends! Thank you, Jana! I opened my email this morning to a wonderful note letting me know that a surprise was on it's way. I couldn't wait to get home from the hospital to see what it was since Jim told me I had a package waiting. How did she know I am a Nativity collector? I don't recall ever telling her and I know I didn't collect Nativity sets while in high school. How lucky am I? I have not had a chance to look through the book yet. I want to sit and browse through it without interruption.

Dad had a better day today. The cardiologist was guarded in his excitement about the treatment working. He said that, for the moment, it seemed to be working but it was too soon to tell. So, Dad had another bag of Bumex infused tonight to help take fluid off his heart. This is just something that goes along with his condition and we have to try to stay on top of it. Don't really know how long he'll be there. Please say a prayer for him.

Catching up

Spent some time at Dad's making the square dishrag. I've never used the afghan stitch before and I find I really enjoy it. It's a bit tedious and it doesn't go as fast as regular crochet, but I like the finished effect. The round dishrag I made last night because I didn't have the energy to do anything else.
After I got home from Dad's yesterday morning, I made this little pincushion. It's a "thank you" for one of the gals in the online quilt group that played a big part in the retreat. I hope to get it and the square dishrag in the mail to her this week.

On another note...I hope that these posts don't indicate that I am the sole caregiver for my dad. Far from it. Without my husband, my sister and my sons and daughter-in-law (not to mention the caregivers that come in daily) I couldn't do this. I hope I didn't leave anyone out. I think we all feel that we spend an enormous amount of time at Dad's, and we do, but I think that for the most part, we are all contributing in every way we can. There is NO way that any one person can do this. "It takes a village!" LOL With the exception of my retired husband, we all have daily jobs, too. So, kudos to all members of my family! I love you guys and I know Dad is appreciative even though he may be a bit argumentative at times. Can you blame him? If we put ourselves in his place, I think we would not be the most enjoyable people to be around at times, either. He does have his moments and he had us all laughing yesterday.

We're getting ready for another Lubbock trip today. Jim is going with us again and for that, I am most appreciative. They help us a lot in Lubbock, but it gives me peace of mind knowing I have my "muscle" with me. lol Thanks, honey!

Retreat (sort of) at Dad's

I spent the whole day at Dad's yesterday. I chose to stay home this weekend because he's been so sick. I just couldn't stand being gone, not knowing how things are going. He's doing better, still weak. But, I did set up my trusty old Sears Kenmore sewing machine (it's the one Jim bought me right after we were married) and proceeded to sew the corners onto my Starlight rectangles. When I helped Dad to bed once, he said, "Let's see if you can finish your quilt by the time I wake up!" LOL Not likely... This is going to be an ongoing process. I have to get all the corners sewn on to the rectangles before I can even begin to sew pieces together. Hence, the small pieced ditty you see in this picture. These are the leftovers I cut off from those corner pieces. It's so hard for me to throw away stacks of fabric that are just begging to be sewn! These little squares finish out to about 3/4". They're not perfect because sometimes I don't cut the corners off at exactly 1/4" from the rectangle. It's ok. Once I get alllllll the small triangles sewn together into more of this, I think it will be a treasure!

I'm off to Dad's again this morning. The night gal leaves around 7:30. I like to be there before Joe leaves for work, although today is Saturday, isn't it? More than likely Joe will sleep late, though, and the day girl won't be in so I need to get over there to fix breakfast. Good thing I took a few days off, huh? lol

Oh, I almost forgot! I took the other quilt apart (the one with the flower faces) and didn't find anything as interesting as the other innards. The inside of this old quilt is an old terry blanket and a terry towel that had been folded in half and sewn to the blanket to make it a little bigger. Kinda strange...lol

Off to the second day of my "Dad Retreat"!

Antique quilt!

This is what was under the yellow quilt with the kitten pictures! I talked to my aunt tonight and she says that when the old quilts would get worn and torn, they were used as the "innards" for a new quilt. That's what's happened here, apparently. As you can see, the quilt top is very damaged, probably beyond repair.

I found it interesting that the fabric inside, or under the yellow centers, did not seem to fade like the rest of the blades that make up the pattern. I also notice that the pattern was sewn together then appliqued to a strip along the side. The back of the quilt was pieced and that fabric seems to have held up very well. I haven't really examined what is inbetween the two layers, but whatever it is, it's very heavy. I think there are several different layers of different fabrics.

I will use the yellow framed kitten blocks to make a baby quilt for "our baby" (I hope Rob and April are ready to hear a lot of that phrase! LOL) In fact, I want to re-work the other, flower block quilt, into a baby quilt, too. A baby can never have enough hug quilts, right?

Remember these?

These are two quilts I found in my closet during my cleaning frenzy last month. Now that we have a new grandbaby on the way, I am going to remake these into baby quilts for him/her. I am at Dad's right now so I can't take a picture of what I found beneath the yellow one! When I get home tonight, I'll take a picture and post. You won't believe it! I can't wait to take the flower quilt apart to see what's in it!

A new grandbaby on the way!!

Yes, Rob and April broke the news this weekend that they are expecting! I had to keep quiet until she got official results yesterday, and then I was able to tell everyone. I waited posting here, though, until she put it up on her blog. Didn't want to scoop her! lol

So, now it begins...I've already been looking at baby quilt patterns and, of course, I will have to crochet something, be it an afghan, sweater, booties, hat, etc. I may have to do everything in white since April thinks she may not want to know if it's a boy or a girl until the "unveiling".

As she says in her blog, it's still a little unreal. But, once she starts feeling that little thing move around, it'll be real, alright! It will be so wonderful to have a little one around to liven things up. Not that Dad doesn't do that these days! lol

Speaking of Dad, I need to get dressed and ready to get to his place. We've hired someone to stay at night just so Joe can get some much needed rest and sleep. This way Dad (and we) won't have to worry that he has to get up in the night alone if Joe doesn't hear him for some reason. With all of Dad's medical problems right now, it was just the right thing to do. I'm hoping we can get someone in during the day that can be of more assistance to him than the sweet little girl that helps now. She's just too little to help him. I'm there as much as possible and Jim has been the biggest help these days. As it turns out, I will NOT be going to Amarillo this week, but I'm also NOT going to work on Fri. and Sat. I've rearranged all my clients in order to be gone and I will NOT try to get them all scheduled again. It's too hard on all of us. So, I'll be able to stay with Dad on Friday and maybe, just maybe, on Saturday I can have a couple of hours to do what I need to do. Rob and Joe will be there and Judy is there on Saturday, too. I wouldn't enjoy myself or get any rest if I went to Amarillo anyway. I guess I'm a worry wart...

But, my new grandbaby is growing as we speak and I await him/her with much love and excitement!

Gift from a friend

Leota has been listening to me say I would like to get a wallhanging that has this sentiment. She was shopping in Lubbock and found a smaller version done in stitching! She said she just had to pick it up for me. I love it!

We got some exciting news today but I'm going to hold off on saying anything until April posts on her blog.

More sunflowers

I had quite a bit of leftover fabric from the mystery quilt so I think I'll make another lapsize quilt with the sunflower fabrics. I'll have to get more of the big sunflowers but I have plenty of the rest. This pattern seems easy enough to do and it might make for a quick quilt.

The trip to Lubbock today was rather uneventful, thank God. Jim went with us and it made it much easier on me. Since Dad is having some trouble getting up and transferring from chair to chair, Jim's presence really came in handy. He's getting stronger, but it just takes time to overcome the antibiotic reactions. His mental status is way better than last week. His leg wounds are improving, too.

Boy, am I tired. I got up at 6 to be at Dad's by 7:30 and I have to do that again in the morning. So, it's almost 10 p.m. and I hear my bed calling. Goodnight.

Mystery revealed

If you're a sunflower lover, you'd love this little quilt. It's my version of the Mystery Quilt challenge for the QOR retreat we've been having this weekend. I rushed home from Dad's this morning because I only had about an hour to get it all put together (the blocks were still on the design wall and needed borders, too) before the voting would begin. So, I get it all done, in record time! lol I get the picture posted and then I decide to read my email. There it is...."Deadline extended!" LOL Well, shoot! I had an extra two hours. Oh well. It's done.

Barb has asked me to let ya'll know that she is having a giveaway for a free quilt pattern. If you win, you can choose from all 3 of the patterns she has recently designed! All you have to do is post a comment! Click on her name at the beginning of the paragraph and it will take you to her site.

Bingo! and other stuff

I am passing the Brilliante Weblog award to..

April because she is my sweet daughter-in-law who has fallen in love with quilting and my son, not necessarily in that order. lol

Linda who is my oldest and most loyal blog pal since starting this adventure. Thanks, Linda!

Suzy my petite Southern friend and fellow Quilts on Review sister. She makes some of the most beautiful quilts I've seen.

Barb who's blog I know will have the most gorgeous pictures of the beach! oh, and quilts, too...

Myra my newest blog friend who has a blog-ful of beautiful pictures! (I love blogs with pictures, can you tell?)


QOR is having their annual online retreat and tonight I won Bingo! I had a very slow start, but as the hour wore on and the numbers kept coming, my card kept filling up. These are the buttons I used and what my card looked like all covered. I won a set of Froggie FQs. Yesterday I won a trivia contest and have two FQs headed my way once the retreat is over.
This pile of pieces will be my mystery quilt for this year's retreat. I'm not so sure that I have enough contrast, but I have a feeling that it will look fine and I think I know a few someones that might even like it well enough to take it off my hands! You know who you are!

My brother is here this weekend and he is spending time with Dad. Unfortunately, this has not been the best week Dad has had. He's had a reaction to the antibiotic and is not himself. He seemed better tonight, so I'm praying that it will work it's way out of his system soon. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

An Award!

What a nice surprise from Gina
this morning! Thanks, Gina! You started my day on a positive note.

I think I am supposed to pass this award on to 5 bloggers I deem worthy. lol If I can beg your patience, I will get to that tonight. I have an early day today and Dad is at the top of the priority list right now. He's having some major side effects from an antibiotic they've given for his leg problems. Please pray that we don't have to hospitalize him.

I had someone ask whether the booties and caps in the previous pictures are knitted or crocheted. They are crocheted.

Thanks again, Gina!

I'm still here..

Someone checked on me today since I hadn't posted anything since Saturday. I've been busy! LOL In addition to staying with Dad when I'm not working, I've been making more preemie booties and Runaround Bags.
These bags are for the ladies that deliver Communion to shut-ins on Sunday. The lady that came to see Dad on Sunday saw my flip flop Runaround and voiced that she would really like something like that to carry all her things in. So, I found out there are 5 ladies that would need one and got to work.
These baby booties and caps are addictive. Once you get the pattern going, it's easy to make up a bunch of them. Especially since I spend a lot of time just sitting at Dad's when I'm there in the afternoon.
It's been a long week so far and it's only Wednesday night. Another early day tomorrow, so I think I'll go to bed soon.

Runaround Bags

Lazy Girl Designs have so many cute and easy bag patterns. This one is especially easy and I think it will be my choice for gifts this year. The handle is tied only for ease of picture-taking. I'm going to have to find a sale on 12 - 14" zippers! This one took about an hour to make only because I had to read and re-read the directions just so I wouldn't have to rip out anything.

What a busy day at work! Sometimes I wonder if it's worth the misunderstandings that inevitably occur when changing appointments that clients are so used to having. But, everything turned out fine. I am very tired tonight, but when I stepped into my sewing room and remembered I wanted to work on this purse, boom! my energy returned - just like that! (finger snapping!) lol Now that the bag is finished, I'm tired again.

Rob and April took us by their new house, er, the lot the house will be built on. How exciting to be young and so full of future plans! I am simultaneously ecstatic and scared for them. But, with prayers and lots of common sense, I think these two will be just fine.

Busy night

After working until about 12:30 and spending some time with Dad, I came home and slept for about an hour and a half to get rid of another headache. It worked to some extent. Then I fixed dinner and worked on this 6.5" challenge block for our online retreat. After the Double Wedding Ring, I think my favorite quilt design is Sunbonnet Sue. Then it's the Log Cabin.
Here's a pair of preemie booties to take to Gail tomorrow. Now I have a pink pair and a blue pair to give her. These are so fulfilling to make. Knowing a sweet baby will wear them gives me warm fuzzies and, yet, makes me a little sad because some of them won't live to wear a larger size.

It's almost 11:30 so I better get to bed.

Quiltlet no. 2

I finally got my rear in gear and finished a second quiltlet for the online retreat swap. I've had this orphan block sitting in a drawer for quite some time now. I knew I'd work it up into a wallhanging or pillow someday. The curved border took some planning.

The tissue holders are going to a wedding party. I won't be able to attend this wedding, so I thought I'd send them tissue holders with tissues included. That's something we all need at a wedding, wouldn't you say? The white one is the bride's, of course.

In a hurry..

As usual, I'm pressed for time this morning. I slept in after waking Jim at 6 a.m. so he could get out to the golf course to meet his friends for a friendly game. It's after 8 and I still need to shower and be to work by 9. So, here are a couple of pictures of two bags I've made recently. The pink one is made with pre-quilted fabric (my favorite) and the striped is made with fabric fused to the interfacing. I used some silk remnants that Mary brought (I think it was Mary, right?) and it looks nice on the inside. It's a little flimsy, but it's a summer bag, so it doesn't need to be so heavy. Right, again?

I received my block challenge material in the mail yesterday and am at a total loss as to what to do with it. I was too tired after our Lubbock trip last night to even think about it. Maybe my lightbulb with light up tonight. I still want to do another "quiltlet" to send in for the retreat game. I really need to get in the shower. Have a great day! Oh, little Mattie's home and Rachael is coming out of her coma and seems to be responding. Please keep praying!